London 2012: Funny Olympic Bags Say 'They're All On Steroids', And 'It Only Took Me Three Hours To Get To Work'

Cop A Load Of This Locog!
|

The capital is revving up for the Olympics amid security controversies, traffic chaos and a whole load of righteous indignation.

The latest bags produced by designer Toby Leigh perhaps express the way a lot of Londoners are feeling about The Event That Must Not Be Named.

References to London 2012, summer, bronze or gold don't need to be mentioned for these bags to get their message across: these dark un-olympian thoughts have all crossed our minds.

Open Image Modal

It's just all part of that big event in London (P.S. - It's not the Jubilee)

The bags say "They're all on steroids", "It only took me three hours to get to work" and "I'm renting my flat to a fat American family"

Locog has been one of the games authorities lambasted over the last month, as the strict branding rules set up to protect London 2012 sponsors get ever more draconian.

Speaking to The Huffington Post UK, Leigh said he'd had to do "quite a lot of research" to make sure he wasn't breaching Locog branding guidelines.

"You can't use the words London 2012 or the Olympic rings, but they can't copyright the word London.

"The typeface isn't the same typeface either."

He added that the website had been doing really well:

"I think that's because of a combination of a lot of things. Both people being a bit p**sed off and because in Britain we like to take the p*ss. We like laughing at things."

The brilliantly funny bags refuse to take either themselves or the Olympics seriously, something Locog certainly has been doing rather a lot of of late.

Twitter users were outraged over a note which appeared to suggest that only McDonalds was able to sell chips at the London 2012 games. Many people felt this McDonalds monopoly of the humble British chipped potato encapsulated the way big business has hijacked the sporting competition.

Open Image Modal

A 'copy' of the note which was circulated on social media sites. Huffington Post UK was unable to confirm whether or not it was a genuine memo and both Locog and McDonalds did not return our calls

Earlier this year a similar social media storm was witnessed after London 2012 protesters had their accounts suspended by Twitter (ostensibly to protect its sponsors).

Locog complained that the doctored logo used by the protesters on their Twitter page was violating the site's rules on "brand violation." However, protesters fought back with a Twibbon mocking the Olympic organisers.

Open Image Modal

People added the "official London 2012" protest logo to their Twitter avatar

In a Guardian article discussing the Olympic 'branding police' one legal expert described the stringent restrictions as "draconian."

Leigh told the Huffington Post UK that even if Locog do come a-knocking they are going to look "a bit evil", as it had been important for both he and fellow designer Elaine Burke to make sure their bags were ethically produced.

"In a total antithesis to a lot of Olympic products the bags were made ethically in a small village in Malawi." he said

Buying the bags will help support Khama, a Malawi-based charity that helps women become financially independent. Burke, who runs Khama, echoed Leigh, telling the Huffington Post UK that the products were sustainably made and will support women in the region.

"We felt very strongly about doing something ethical as well as funny" she said.